German Sd.Kfz.171 Panther Ausf.G - Early Version 00928

“Panther is the common name of a medium tank fielded by Nazi Germany in World War
II that served from mid-1943 to the end of the European war in 1945. The
Panther's excellent combination of firepower, mobility, and protection served
as a benchmark for other nations' late war and immediate post-war tank designs,
and it is frequently regarded as one of the best tank designs of World War II.

While sharing essentially the same engine
as the Tiger I tank, it had better frontal armor, better gun penetration, was
lighter overall and thus faster, and could handle rough terrain better than the
Tigers. The tradeoff was weaker side armor; the Panther proved to be deadly in
open country and shooting from long range, but vulnerable to close-quarters
combat. Also, the 75 mm gun fired a slightly smaller shell than the
Tiger's 88 mm gun, providing less high explosive firepower against
infantry, though it was still quite effective.

The Panther was also far
cheaper to produce than the Tiger tanks, and only slightly more expensive than
the Panzer IV, as its design came to fruition at the same time that the Reich
Ministry of Armament and War Production was making great efforts to increase
war production. Key elements of the Panther design, such as its armor,
transmission and final drive, were compromises made specifically to improve
production rates and addressGermany's
war shortages, whereas other elements such as its highly compact engine and its
complex suspension system remained with their elegant but complicated
engineering. The result was that Panther tank production was far higher than
what was possible for the Tiger tanks, but not much higher than what had been
accomplished with the Panzer IV. At the same time, the simplified final drive
became the single major cause of breakdowns of the Panther tank, and was a
problem that was never corrected.